U.S. suffered worst quarterly contraction on record

[FreeinChrist]

He’s not responsible for the pandemic happening. He is responsible for the federal government’s response to it.

The statement that this will all go away in the heat was wrong. 15 cases down to zero was wrong. The China travel ban accomplished almost nothing because most of the cases that originated outside of the US came from Europe. He refused to utilize the Defense Production Act to get more PPE. He allowed states to have to compete against each other for ventilators, this raising prices, rather than using the purchasing power of the federal government to lower prices. There was no national lockdown/reopening plan. He demanded states open up quicker than the epidemiologists were suggesting. He pushed unproven medicines.

I don’t blame Trump for a pandemic happening, I blame him for how he responded. If he doesn’t want that responsibility, that’s fine, he can step down as president.

Add to that, the push to reopen ASAP so that certain red states opened way too carelessly.
And Trump could have promoted mask use as the masks because available.

 

[Paulos23]

Ah, just strand them where they are.....I can just imagine the howls of faux outrage from the LSM and left.......

It would have made more sense to have people coming in to be quarantined for two weeks, even if that was only returning Americans. Because we didn't do that, the virus kept coming in.

From your source:
WASHINGTON—In May 2018, President Donald Trump’s biodefense preparedness adviser warned that a flu pandemic was the country’s No. 1 health security threat, and the U.S. was not prepared.

“We know that it cannot be stopped at the border,” Luciana Borio, director of medical and biodefense preparedness at the National Security Council, said at a symposium that day.

Borio left the Trump administration in 2019. Other high-level global health experts headed for the exits even earlier, after the White House dismantled the National Security Council’s global health security office.

Doesn't sound as if he fired anyone......

But he never reversed dismantling them. Never brought them back. And kept saying it would not be a problem.

Yep, MERS and SARS.....didn't see any covid19 on that list though....oh, maybe because as I noted it was a new and previously unknown virus that does not seem to operated like MERS and SARS.....

The things they would do for SARS and MERS is the same as for COVID-19. Those precautions the playbook had at the beginning would have at least bought some time to deal with it.

You keep making excuses for Trump, but one of the reasons we have the highest infection rate is because Trump didn't take the early steps that could have cut the number of cases down and shortened a shutdown.

Again, if Trump wants to take credit for the good times he has to take credit for the bad. That includes lack of action.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

He may not have caused it, but he lay claim on the economy before. He can't quit it now!

What are you talking about, it's Obama's economy, it has been for years.

 

[iluvatar5150]

I think it was going to happen no matter what but not this bad before Covid19. The Fed started printing money last September in order to increase liquidity so that big banks could lend to smaller banks (the repo market it is called, if I have that right).
The economy was being propped up for quite a while, but it was showing problems before Covid19 showed up.

What I fear is that the economy crashes more, and because of all the money printed,
currencies will devalue and inflation will be bad - like in the 70s.
Some friends on Facebook were commenting about having a hard time finding some canning supplies - which reminded me of the 70s and a shortage we had at that time because folks were trying to garden and can more. They were trying to do this, but it is hard without the supplies:

​

But one needs the way to preserve the food. It was a problem in the 70s and it is a worry if supplies are short. I hope it doesn't all come from China.

I'm not sure anybody (including academic economists, whom I'm more likely to trust on such matters than political economists or, especially, financial advisers) really knows how to predict what will cause inflation anymore. Yes, the Fed has flooded the system with cash at times in recent history, but that money doesn't necessarily makes it all the way to main street where it could actually devalue the dollar and hike prices. It's mainly been used to prop up inter-business lending and maintain the status quo. Despite all of that money printing, inflation has barely cracked 2% over the last 12 years, despite 2% supposedly being the Fed's average target. As far as I understand things, there's some possibility that covid could cause inflation if demand winds up outpacing the constricted supply, but it could have the opposite effect, too, and cause deflation if the overall supply of goods rebounds before the demand does.

 

[wing2000]

And exactly HOW should he have done that?

For starters: Stop undermining the message of public health officials.

 

[civilwarbuff]

You keep making excuses for Trump,

Not making excuses for him just pointing out the errors in your claims.....using your own sources.....

 

[civilwarbuff]

What are you talking about, it's Obama's economy, it has been for years.

Obama And The Dem's Dismal Recovery

 

[wing2000]

Not making excuses for him just pointing out the errors in your claims.....using your own sources.....

What error was that?

 

[Fantine]

WHO reports record daily spike in COVID-19 cases

So much for that theory.......

And what does that prove? We had the highest number of NEW cases as well.
Yes, a second surge seems to be beginning--and it will hit our country--leaderless and uncaring--far worse than others.

 

[civilwarbuff]

For starters: Stop undermining the message of public health officials.

You mean like masks aren't effective in preventing covid-19 spread?

Early on even PHO's didn't know what they were talking about......

 

[civilwarbuff]

What error was that?

go back and read them....

 

[civilwarbuff]

And what does that prove?

Well the general expression was 'we suck and every one else is doing great' when in fact that is not the case......

 

[Paulos23]

Not making excuses for him just pointing out the errors in your claims.....using your own sources.....

I would call it nitpicking and grabbing any straw to make it look like it is not Trump's fault he didn't do enough. Disbanding or firing is about the same if Trump doesn't bring them back and enact their suggestions. And a virus is a virus, it doesn't matter that the pandemic playbook doesn't mention it, the suggestions in that book would still work in slowing the spread of the virus.

In short, Donald didn't do what would slow the virus spread, and what he did either wasn't enough or to slow. It is at the point where he should just bite the bullet and shut the country down for two weeks, get enough testing going to identify everyone that has it, quarantine them and then reopen with more testing and more tracking and tracing.

But he is not going to do that because it will make him look bad.

 

[FreeinChrist]

I'm not sure anybody (including academic economists, whom I'm more likely to trust on such matters than political economists or, especially, financial advisers) really knows how to predict what will cause inflation anymore. Yes, the Fed has flooded the system with cash at times in recent history, but that money doesn't necessarily makes it all the way to main street where it could actually devalue the dollar and hike prices. It's mainly been used to prop up inter-business lending and maintain the status quo. Despite all of that money printing, inflation has barely cracked 2% over the last 12 years, despite 2% supposedly being the Fed's average target. As far as I understand things, there's some possibility that covid could cause inflation if demand winds up outpacing the constricted supply, but it could have the opposite effect, too, and cause deflation if the overall supply of goods rebounds before the demand does.

Is the rate of inflation being calculated in the same way as the 70s though? I was reading something that if it was calculated the same way as then, our rate of inflation would be much higher. I can't quote it because it was something privately given.
Will try to find the info.

 

[FreeinChrist]

You mean like masks aren't effective in preventing covid-19 spread?

Early on even PHO's didn't know what they were talking about......

That has been explained to death though some refuse to hear. It is willful ignorance, imho.

Early on, Fauci et al were concerned that what masks we had be reserved for caregivers. The link to Fauci had been posted a number of times.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Is the rate of inflation being calculated in the same way as the 70s though? I was reading something that if it was calculated the same way as then, our rate of inflation would be much higher. I can't quote it because it was something privately given.
Will try to find the info.

I haven't looked into it in a while, but AFAIK, it's roughly comparable. If I understand things correctly, real inflation has been limited to some subsets of the economy - namely healthcare, housing, education and maybe one or two others I'm forgetting. A lot of the staples that go into calculating inflation like food, clothing, transportation, entertainment, etc have stayed pretty cheap.

 

[FreeinChrist]

Obama And The Dem's Dismal Recovery

And who controlled the House in the last 6 years of his administration?

 

[FreeinChrist]

Well the general expression was 'we suck and every one else is doing great' when in fact that is not the case......

Yeah, it is the case. The numbers spiked in large part because of the US and Brazil. The president of Brazil followed Donald's lead.

 

[FreeinChrist]

I haven't looked into it in a while, but AFAIK, it's roughly comparable. If I understand things correctly, real inflation has been limited to some subsets of the economy - namely healthcare, housing, education and maybe one or two others I'm forgetting. A lot of the staples that go into calculating inflation like food, clothing, transportation, entertainment, etc have stayed pretty cheap.

I hope it does, but printing lots of money isn't going to help control it.
As to why the Fed started printing in Sept. 2019:

The Fed - What Happened in Money Markets in September 2019?

Don't ask me to explain it all.
It goes along with all the paid advice my husband and I get.

 

[iluvatar5150]

I hope it does, but printing lots of money isn't going to help control it.
As to why the Fed started printing in Sept. 2019:

The Fed - What Happened in Money Markets in September 2019?

Don't ask me to explain it all.
It goes along with all the paid advice my husband and I get.

My understanding of that event is that, while it had the potential to have some bad consequences, its cause was essentially a fluke in the way a number of other, non-threatening things lined up. Like, if your cat got sick, your car died, and your water heater died on the day your mortgage and car insurance were both due, most folks would have to dip into their credit quite a bit. Those things all suck, but none of them constitute existential threats to your financial stability the way that, say, a job loss or severe illness would.